ACTS 16:9,10: And during the night a vision appeared to Paul: a certain Mac‧e‧do′ni‧an man was standing and entreating him and saying: “Step over into Mac‧e‧do′ni‧a and help us.” Now as soon as he had seen the vision, we sought to go forth into Mac‧e‧do′ni‧a, drawing the conclusion that God had summoned us to declare the good news to them.

Thursday, June 30, 2011

Nou Pale Kreyol

(Zephaniah 3:9)" For then I shall give to peoples the change to a pure language, in order for them all to call upon the name of Jehovah, in order to serve him shoulder to shoulder."

So yesterday morning we head to the Kingdom Hall for the 8:40 a.m. meeting for field service. Only when we get there no one is there from the Spanish congregation, apparently they meet somewhere in the campo on Wednesday mornings. So here we are us three Americanos speaking little Spanish and the friends from the Kreyol congregation. What do we do? -THROW CAUTION TO THE WIND- Of course we join them in the ministry, in Kreyol, for the day. IT WAS A VERY GOOD MORNING! As I mentioned earlier, all of the friends staying in the home we are staying in are the Kreyol congregation. Yesterday was the first time we really have gotten a chance to worship with them. As the morning progressed we felt the bonds of brotherhood strengthening. Isn't it amazing how when we engage in Jehovah's work we are drawn closely together?

We worked with a young couple Janai and Pierre. Janai explained that we were going to a "Batey". In times past a Batey was an area where Haitians who worked on sugar cane farms would live, near the farm. Now the term is used to describe any area where predominantly Haitians are living. Going to this area was quite a shock. As I noted earlier the DR is very poor. Yet even by the standard of living here the people in the Batey have nothing. The homes are made of sheet metal, plywood, plastic, old doors or whatever was available. the roofs are held in place by large stones on the top of the home. There is no electric or plumbing and the sanitation was below the standards that we are used to. Yet with all of that going on around us the ministry was very enjoyable.
We headed up a dead end street and walked about a quarter of a mile up a dirt and stone path. The path opened up into the Batey, a village of these makeshift homes. The people living there are extremely poor but have a love for and respect of the Bible in general. Not once did anyone turn us away this morning.
I worked with Pierre and he did all the talking. I was able to follow along somewhat thanks to 3 years of High School French class I guess. Kreyol seems to be based on a mix French and African dialects. The highlight of the morning for me was his conversation with a woman named Mylene. As we approached the house she greeted us with a big smile. She and Pierre engaged in a lengthy conversation about heaven, the great crowd, the Tribulation and Armageddon. When Pierre read to her Rev. 20:10 about The Devil being destroyed Mylene literally started dancing with joy over this. Yeah, it was the first time I had ever seen that.
We had several good conversations and so thoroughly enjoyed the morning that we went to the Kreyol Congregation meeting that night. It is a small group of 27 publishers and only 2 elders. They both alternated doing parts on the meeting, kind of like a tag team of sorts! The biggest surprise of the night? Eloise, a sister in the home here asked Danielle to be a householder in her magazine presentation! Quick study that she is Danielle, pulled it off without a hitch. You go chica !

all piled up in the car

After the meeting, we all piled into Pierre's car and drove home. We were just happy not to have to walk home as street lighting here is little to none and none the way we head home.

So that was our day on Wednesday. I find it humorous-the three of us, English speakers in a Spanish speaking country, going out preaching with a Spanish Bible that we don't read well, trying to follow conversations in Kreyol. You know what; it all worked out pretty good, thanks to Jehovah God.

Congrats on making it to your assignment! You are about to enjoy the greatest experience of your lives and draw so much more closer to Jehovah and his beautiful people. Have fun and keep blogging so we can live vicariously through you! :)

Hey JoAnn thanks for reading and yes we are already having the time of our lives. We are experiencing the brotherhood on a whole new level! Thanks for sharing your experiences as well, they helped to get us enthusiastic about coming here to DR

About Me

In 2007 our family decided to start simplifying our lives in order to do more in Jehovah's service. That decision led us to set a goal to be self supporting missionaries or "needgreaters". We are sharing our experience so friends at home can keep up with us and perhaps as a way to encourage others who may be thinking of "reaching out" in support of Kingdom interests.